A Method for Microwave Frequency Multiplication in Miniaturized Rubidium Atomic Clocks

Chinese Journal of Magnetic Resonance

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A Method for Microwave Frequency Multiplication in Miniaturized Rubidium Atomic Clocks

LIU Jing1,2，SUN Bing-feng1,2，YAN Shi-dong1，MEI Gang-hua1，ZHONG Da1*

1. Key Laboratory of Atomic Frequency Standard of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Wuhan 430071, China;
2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Received:2013-03-12 Revised:2013-04-07 Published:2013-12-05 Online:2013-12-05
About author:*Corresponding author: Zhong Da,Tel: 027-87198726，E-mail：zhongda@wipm.ac.cn.

Abstract

Abstract:

A microwave frequency multiplier is introduced in this paper, which may be used to further miniaturize rubidium atomic clocks. A digital phase-locked loop (PLL) technique was used in the microwave frequency multiplier to transform the 10 MHz signal from VCXO to a 6 834.68XX MHz signal. After binary frequency shift keying (2FSK) modulation and power optimization, the microwave signal was fed into the microwave cavity of the physics package. This multiplication scheme makes the circuit board smaller and the debugging process easier. The circuit with this multiplier was implemented and used in miniaturized rubidium clocks. Preliminary test showed that the short term frequency stability achievable was 1.8×10-¹¹τ^-1/2.

Key words: rubidium atomic clock, miniaturization, microwave frequency multiplier, PLL, microwave power

CLC Number:

TN015

References

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A Method for Microwave Frequency Multiplication in Miniaturized Rubidium Atomic Clocks

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